Marker Duke Review

**DropCliffsNotBombs** · 12-14-2007, 10:28 PM

I love Markers. I love getting you all "fired up" when I play devils advocate regarding the Duke. This has been fun. Tour on!

**grapedrink** · 12-16-2007, 06:25 PM

well i tried my dukes today, granted it was on a pair of 138's with which i have no previous experience to compare to but they felt solid to me. haven't tried touring yet.. one thing i thought i'd mention though, the tech reccomended putting duct tape to cover up the spring. he said some guy that rides for volkl/marker (i forget the name) has already ripped out 3-4 jester heel pieces, his theory is that maybe snow and ice build up in the spring and prevent it from releasing properly.. but who knows.

**Schmear** · 12-16-2007, 07:12 PM

Originally Posted by Chris Knight

b) lower to the ski for sure, stack height is noticeably lower

Anybody know exactly how much lower? My main complaint about Freerides is how high they put me on the ski. Doesn't feel right.

Edit: just saw AKBckntry's post:

Originally Posted by AKBckntry

Stack height as measured between bottom of boot and top of ski:
Minimum of 26 mm; measured at touring boot toe height, which is considerably lower than that for alpine boots.

I just measured the stack height on my Freerides using the above criteria and got 43 mm. So yeah, I guess that's a pretty big difference.

**=FLO=** · 12-17-2007, 11:25 AM

http://www.newschoolers.com/web/foru...ead_id/338014/

Broken Duke, second run - anyone here had this problem?

**Core Shot** · 12-17-2007, 05:11 PM

Originally Posted by =FLO=

http://www.newschoolers.com/web/foru...ead_id/338014/

Broken Duke, second run - anyone here had this problem?

you are the first here.
Interesting breakage.
Yeah, yeah switch pow landing, but still shouldn't break.

Either its a design defect or an injection molding flaw.
I hope its the latter.

We will find out soon enough.

**=FLO=** · 12-17-2007, 05:21 PM

^ Ya - i would seriously recommend heli-coiling the one screw that holds the lever down, there is way too much tension for one screw. And a season of jamming the lever back and forth to get it back into lock mode will just wiggle it loose.

My Duke broke on the second run, the plastic housing for the lock lever snapped in half, leaving me stuck in touring mode. This was after an 8 foot 180 to pow on the side of a groomer. It is complete bullshit that all that holds the lever down is ONE screw that can easily be stripped out. If a ski flexes fully flexes against the camber in soft snow, it pulls the plate away from the ski, which pulls up on the one middle screw. If that screw pulls out there is nothing keeping you from freeheel mode, or in my case, snapping it in half. I guess we are all suckers - paying Marker to do their R&D. I would never trust this binding in the backcountry, let alone hucking anything.

**Core Shot** · 12-17-2007, 05:26 PM

^^ if the screw falls out, the binding should still work fine. There are 4 more screws holding that front plate on.

The problem is that the stress of hucking seems to have found a week link where the plastic plate broke.

Chicken and egg. Did the screw blow out, causing the plate to break?
OR, did the plate break, resulting in the screw coming out.

If your plate had not broke, you would not have been thrust into touring mode.

**=FLO=** · 12-17-2007, 05:38 PM

^^ Yes but then there is nothing keeping the whole thing from sliding on the plate. Yes i do feel the plate broke first, then ripped the screw out

**Fritz** · 12-17-2007, 05:56 PM

Originally Posted by DropCliffsNotBombs

And using BC gear for resort skiing is silly. I don't care if the boots are easy to walk to the ski lift in.

The underlining is highly suspicious. I bet you had a great experience at Neptune recently, didn't you?

**DropCliffsNotBombs** · 12-17-2007, 11:28 PM

Originally Posted by Fritz

The underlining is highly suspicious. I bet you had a great experience at Neptune recently, didn't you?

Your logic waxes poetic of the old rear entry boots. "they ski like crap all day, but boy are they easy to put on in the morning!" You should never rationalize poor performance in the name of comfort or convenience.... You know better!

And I would never go to Neptune for my gear to begin with. They aren't local.

**gimpy** · 12-18-2007, 12:07 AM

been hearing lots of talk bout dukes and praxis but has anyone thrown some freerides on some praxiiii yet?? somebody hold my hand and tell me the freerides can handle that ski (185). don't own alpine boots so they'll be all access. real tempted to throw down for the dukes but the more i read the more inclined i am to throw some old sloppy dust collecting fr's on em.

**DropCliffsNotBombs** · 12-18-2007, 12:18 AM

The Freerides can handle that ski. But remember, the current Freeride is the 4th generation design... over the course of seven years. The Duke is a 1st generation design... and has not been tested for even one season yet!

Posers seem to be attracted to the Duke like moths to a porch light! You are smarter than that.... right?

**My Pet Powder Goat** · 12-18-2007, 01:19 AM

Dropcliffsnotbombs sez,

"I have since skied them. NOT impressed. And I ski Markers on all my alpine skis! I just think that Freerides work better for touring. The Duke has spawned a whole group of backcountry posers that are attracted to the look of AT gear but never actually take avalanche courses or go touring. "

And using BC gear for resort skiing is silly. I don't care if the boots are easy to walk to the ski lift in.
__________________

^^^Your advice is highly suspect, and your trolling is pathetic...

I personally DO love my freerides. (and would suggest grumpy use them.... if he just rides pow with them.)

My ol' greys FR (warrantied) have held up on a 65+ft drops on Peruvian and countless 30'ers, but at the same time they have broken twice up at the front screws. I was just high-speed hockey stopping on some hardpack. they have lots of shortcomings, mostly the lateral tourqe. and The wider the ski the more the FR get torqued. Lots of us ski wide skis here, and lots of us tour here, and well... that leaves us stuck on a marker duke

I'm also willing 2 buy a "1st" gen marker binder, because a "potentially "semi-bomber" binding was a long time coming. The industry will notice the rush toward the dukes and step up their game.

So stop posting shit, cuz u ski on marker M41's

**gimpy** · 12-18-2007, 10:52 AM

ok thanx folks for telling me what i want to hear. i'll be putting some older grey/yellow ones on em. now if only we had some soft snow.....sigh

**gimpy** · 12-18-2007, 10:54 AM

ok thanx folks for telling me what i want to hear. i'll be putting some older grey/yellow ones on em. now if only we had some soft snow.....sigh

Marker Dukes · 12-18-2007, 03:19 PM

Dukes have max. DIN 16 Bitch!

**Micol** · 12-28-2007, 01:20 PM

Hey Schmear,

I'm getting 36mm on my Freerides. Are you running with some sorta plates? I wonder why we have 1/2 cm diff from your 43mm. So, I'm running 1 cm higher on FR than Dukes.

My only interest in the dukes would be to eliminate the frankenturn feeling on hardpack downhill. Otherwise in powder the FR's dont bother me.

What measurements do anyothers here have on their FR's?

Resort skiing I use a different rig anyway.

**SkiOrDie** · 12-31-2007, 08:22 PM

Scored Dukes at Jackson Hole last week - skied them ALL WEEK without problem and with TOTAL HAPPINESS!!! I must say that I traded my Look Pivot's for these and they give nothing away to the Looks. I only used Free Heel for a few hours, but it all played exactly as advertised. While I wasn't thrilled to take the ski off - it turned out to be easy on/off - no problems. I wasn't swimming in 50" of pow, but it was still no biggie. I LOVE the way these things hold on hard pack and do NOT chatter. I didn't like the chatter of the freerides at all. So, I'm a happy customer and my ole legs are just gonna have to get stronger to lift the weight.

**SkiED** · 01-01-2008, 10:03 PM

^pretty much exactly what he said. I have officially been on the dukes for a week now skiing hard everyday and have had zero problems. They ski great pretty similar to a p14 and I have had no durability or pre releasing problems. Really impressed with the binding so far, only problem is the low riser height, it would be interesting if there was a way to add on an addition for a higher heel riser